The Ghosts of Aquinnah by Julie Flanders Read Free Book Online Page B

since he boarded that ship.”
    “ I’ve got chowder for him,” Mrs. Mayhew said as she dried her hands on her long white apron. “And bread baking in the oven just now.”
    “ It smells lovely,” Stella said.
    “ As long as it tastes good, that’s all we need to worry about.”
    Mrs. Mayhew was nothing if not practical. And that trait no doubt came in handy when running a house on top of a range of cliffs where her husband could be called out to man the lighthouse at any time of the night. Mrs. Mayhew seemed naturally calm and easy-going, although those may have been learned skills she had acquired to keep herself sane while raising the Mayhew’s five sons. The youngest was now 20 and had married a girl from Chilmark the previous autumn. Like the rest of her children, he’d left Gay Head behind. Mrs. Mayhew didn’t want to admit it, but she was thrilled to have the company of Stella and her young patient while they all waited out the storm. The house felt alive again for the first time since her youngest son had moved away.
    “ And what’s our patient’s name, Stella?” Mrs. Mayhew asked as she ladled steaming clam chowder into a large bowl.
    “ Christopher Casey. He’s an Irishman.”
    “ Would be with a name like that.”
    “ He’d been living in Boston and planned to go to Savannah on the ship.”
    “ Plans sure can change, can’t they?”
    Stella thought of all the plans she’d had for her life when she was a child. Yes, plans certainly can, and do, change.
    “ He’s in terrible pain from the arm,” Stella said. “I gave him some more laudanum.”
    “ All you can do for him, poor child.”
    Mrs. Mayhew set the bowl of chowder on a tray and pulled her freshly baked bread from the oven. She noticed Stella staring at the bread with anticipation.
    “ Would you like a slice for yourself?”
    “ Yes I would, please.”
    “ I could see your tongue hanging out for it. I’ll cut you both two slices. You could use some more meat on those bones of yours, child.”
    “ Thank you, Mrs. Mayhew.”
    “ Let me get you some coffee now. I know that bedroom has to be cold with this breeze kicking up.”
    The woman put the chowder, bread, coffee, and condiments on a serving tray and handed it to Stella.
    “ There you go, girl. Best get back to your patient.”
    Stella thanked her again and slowly walked out of the kitchen, focusing on keeping her tray steady.
    As she walked along the hallway, she smiled at the thought of Mrs. Mayhew. She was nothing like her mother had been, but she felt like a mother all the same. Stella enjoyed being in her company. It had been too long since she’d had a woman to talk to. Or anyone to talk to, for that matter.
    She carefully opened the door and broadened her smile for Christopher, who had managed to sit himself up in the bed. It crossed her mind that she wasn't sorry the snow had delayed Josiah's return to Gay Head. She didn’t miss her husband at all.
     
    ****
     
    “ We need to mend your clothes,” Stella said as Christopher struggled to sit up in bed to greet her the following morning when she entered his room. “All that thrashing around on the boat tore them to shreds.”
    Christopher looked down at his shirt and pants and grimaced.
    “ I don’t have any other clothes to put on,” he said. “And I don’t have a coat either. I lost it on the boat.” He glanced out the window and shivered. “Looks like a blizzard out there.”
    “ It’s not a blizzard,” Stella said. “Quite a breeze, sure, but it’s just a storm.”
    Christopher stared out at the snow still falling and swirling through the air and shook his head. “As you say, Mrs. Winslow.”
    “ I brought some of Mr. Mayhew’s clothes for you to wear while I do the mending.” She looked Christopher up and down. “You’re not far off his size. And he has a coat you can wear as well.”
    “ I don’t know how I’m going to pay back Mr. and Mrs. Mayhew.”
    “ I wouldn’t worry about that.